Benjamin Rivers Reveals His New Psychological Dating-Sim

On the heels of his horror themed creation Home, Benjamin Rivers has revelaed his next emotional thrill-ride titled Alone With You at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Home, the indie horror smash-hit released in 2012 drew people in with its intense decision making scenarios, pixel art style, and subtle story that included plenty of disturbing moments. Alone With You hopes to use some of the same elements, but this time around, turn it into a mind-bending dating simulator where you play the final crew member of a malfunctioning terraforming project on a distant crumbling planet. Your only companion is the station’s still-functioning A.I.

The steep transition from horror to romance was one that excited Rivers from the get-go.

“I think both of these ideas are pretty difficult to do in video games, and up until now both concepts have largely been handled in similar ways within their respective genres. I think there’s a tonne of room to play with new ideas, and so that was a challenge I just couldn’t resist,” Rivers told CGM.

Alone With You is an upcoming psychological dating-sim made by Benjamin Rivers | Courtesy alonewithyougame.com

In an interview last year with joystiq, Rivers hinted at creating a dating-sim with some horror elements, but with less “video game-y” moments. When asked on whether he accomplished those goals with Alone With You, he told us it was still too early to tell.

“There are some traditional game-like elements there, of course—probably more so than Home—but like with horror games, I thought a lot of relationship/emotional games relied on very heavy abstractions and tropes, and I wanted to see if I could coax out some of those results a little more naturally.”

The game is still in early development, but will include a gender-neutral protagonist that allows romance options for all players, and a simple new control scheme optimized for controllers. A release date hasn’t been confirmed, and there are no details regarding which platforms it will be available for.